Do the Bartman

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Do the Bartman   DE 5 02/25/1991 (16 weeks)   AT 17th March 31, 1991 (9 weeks)   CH 12 05/05/1991 (7 weeks)   UK 1 01/26/1991 (12 weeks)   NL 2 02/23/1991 (11 weeks)

Do the Bartman is a pop / rap song released on the 1990 album The Simpsons Sing the Blues . The play is written by Michael Jackson .

background

Michael Jackson wrote the song Do the Bartman

The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in September 1990. The first single was the song Do the Bartman . The chanting came from Bart Simpson's voice actress Nancy Cartwright . The song was released on November 20, 1990. Previously, there were rumors that Michael Jackson was writing a song for the Simpsons album in the summer of 1990. The title was supposed to be Do the Bartman , but Simpsons producer James L. Brooks didn't want to wait until September 1990 to focus on producing the series. However, the song was written beforehand and there was much discussion as to whether Jackson actually wrote the song.

1998 confirmed Simpsons creator Matt Groening at a press conference in Pasadena ( California ) that Michael Jackson Do the Bartman written and the recording had produced. Groening was amazed that until 1998 nobody knew that Michael Jackson was the author of the song.

Michael Jackson was a huge fan of The Simpsons , especially Bart, and asked the show's producer if he could write a number one hit for Bart called Do the Bartman . Then Jackson got a guest appearance on the episode The Birthday Surprise ( Stark Raving Dad ) with the pseudonym John Jay Smith. Jackson also wrote the song Happy Birthday Lisa , which was later included on the album Songs in the Key of Springfield . Jackson also took over the background vocals in the song Do the Bartman .

criticism

The song was received quite positively by critics. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described the song as a super duo between Nancy and Jackson. Most of the critics categorized the song into different musical genres, but the overall feedback has been positive.

Commercial win

Do the Bartman was never released as an official single in the USA, but it was internationally successful and reached number 1 in the respective charts in Australia , Ireland , New Zealand , Norway and the United Kingdom , as well as the top 5 in many European countries, including Germany. With over 400,000 units sold in the UK, the song went gold there . In 1991, the song was number 1 on the British charts from February 16 to March 9 and became one of the most successful singles of the year. The song's success marked the Simpsons' breakthrough as a series in the UK. In Ireland, Do The Bartman stood at number 1 for nine consecutive weeks and became one of the most successful songs in the history of the Irish charts.

Music video

Brad Bird , one of the Simpsons directors, directed the music video , which was released in 1991 and achieved cult status.

The script for the music video was completed in just two days. Bird then flew to Budapest , where the music video was animated at Varga Studios . The animators thought it was an animation of the Simpsons shorts , but Bird explained the background to them.

In 1991 the music video got a nomination for the MTV Video Music Awards 1991. In addition, the music video was often shown on American music channels such as MTV during this time . After Michael Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, the song was played as a tribute to Jackson in the episode Wedding for Disaster .

Sales figures and awards

country	Awards	Sales figures
United Kingdom	gold	400,000+

Formats

7 ″ single:

1. Do the Bartman (7 ″ House Mix / Edit) - 3:54
2. Do the Bartman (LP Edit) - 3:59

swell

1. ↑ Chart sources: DE, AT, CH, UK NL
2. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Jackson Update: News From Korea, Poland And Groening. In: MTV .com. February 23, 1998, accessed October 28, 2008 . 
3. ↑ Deborah Hastings: "The Simpsons" head to recording studio. (No longer available online.) In: Tampabay.com . St. Petersburg Times , September 26, 1990, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 25, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Season 2 DVD commentary for the special feature “Do the Bartman”.
5. ↑ Bart Simpson's secrets revealed. Enquirer.com, accessed February 24, 2009 . 
6. ↑ Ray Richmond: Gloved one secret 'Simpsons' fan. In: Variety.com . February 20, 1998, accessed January 25, 2010 . 
7. ^ Nancy Cartwright : My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy . Ed .: Hyperion . New York City 2000, ISBN 0-7868-8600-5 , pp. 115-117 .
8. ↑ Brooks, James L. (2003). Commentary for “Stark Raving Dad”, in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
9. ↑ Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood: Stark Raving Dad. In: BBC News . 2000, accessed October 28, 2008 . 
10. ↑ Jean, Al. (2003). Commentary for “Stark Raving Dad”, in The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
11. ^ Michael Schneider and Andrew Stewart: Michael Jackson tributes across TV. In: Variety.com . June 28, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2010 . 
12. ↑ Ken Tucker: The Simpsons Sing the Blues. In: Entertainment Weekly . December 14, 1990, accessed January 25, 2010 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Certified Awards Search. British Phonographic Industry , accessed September 14, 2014 . 
14. ↑ Do the Bartman in the Official UK Charts (English)
15. ^ All The Number 1 Singles # 1990. Official Charts Company , September 1, 2017, accessed September 26, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Simpsons celebrate 10 years. In: BBC News. January 13, 2000, accessed January 25, 2010 . 
17. ↑ Kate Whiting: Telly's first family. In: Manchester Evening News . MEN Media, May 5, 2008, accessed January 25, 2010 . 
18. ↑ Facts and Figures Most Weeks at No.1. (No longer available online.) In: IrishCharts.ie . Irish Recorded Music Association , archived from the original on September 7, 2012 ; Retrieved March 1, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ 1991 Video Music Awards. In: MTV. Retrieved January 25, 2010 . 
20. ↑ Deborah Hastings: REM leads nominations for Video Music Awards . In: Deseret News . July 29, 1991.
21. ↑ Chuck Barney: The evolution of 'The Simpsons'. In: Pop Matters. July 23, 2007, accessed January 25, 2010 . 
22. Jump up ↑ Dan Snierson: Michael Jackson: 'The Simpsons' to re-air 'Do the Bartman' video in tribute on Sunday. (No longer available online.) In: Entertainment Weekly. Time Warner Inc, June 27, 2009, archived from the original on July 1, 2009 ; Retrieved January 25, 2010 .